Our Role

The CTA is not a statutory or regulatory body…

The CTA is working with the industry to ensure that common sense prevails, and sellers provide products that “say what they are and are what they say”, no more crazy percentage based measurements that take a maths degree to work out, clear concise and above all legal labelling, and lab reports. Help us to help you and have a voice in your industry by becoming a member of the CTA.

We have no legal power to ensure compliance, however we do have a duty of care to ensure our Members are not affected by the actions of other sellers who either don’t know the rules or simply don’t think the rules apply to them. The CTA is very well versed on the various laws around Europe, so much so that many governments (both local and national departments) from all over Europe call us for advice.

We also have possibly the most respected regulatory lawyers (who helped draft aspects of the MoDA in the UK) and possibly the most experienced set of cannabis and hemp lawyers in the world in Field Fisher and Mackrell International.

Many people ask what role we fulfil and how we work with the authorities to ensure voluntary compliance.

In the first instance when we receive a report or see a breach of the regulations concerning the sale of CBD products, we will research the product, see where else it is sold, how it is presented and how it is marketed.

We will then contact the company concerned highlighting where our concerns lie. We will also highlight the relevant laws they need to consider and take into account. We will offer to help them achieve compliance.

Many companies will respond to us at this point and will withdraw or change their products. If they do not, we will try to contact them further.

Only if the companies do not contact us at all and continue to sell their non-compliant products, we will consider contacting the relevant regulatory bodies to ensure they are aware and can invoke statutory enforcement.

It’s worth noting that we now actively work with every Trading Standards branch in the UK, the MHRA, the FSA and the Home Office and of course UK law enforcement and are seen as the “go to” recognised resource by each of these organisations where legal cannabis products are involved. We are proud to be recognised by the MHRA and included in all documentation relating to cannabis products.

Of course our Membership is obliged just as much as any other company to follow the rules and we try to ensure this happens by performing regular checks on them.